Even as the number of executions is set to hit a 25 year-low in the U.S., the use of the death penalty is on the rise globally. One country that is leading the rise is Saudi Arabia, which executed at least 158 people last year. Saudi Arabia's growing use of capital punishment has drawn criticism from human rights groups, who argue that the Saudi policy of publicly beheading the condemned is inhumane and that executing people for non-violent crimes such as drug-smuggling or apostasy is unjust. They also criticize Saudi laws that allow for convicted adulterers to be stoned to death. On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at capital punishment in Saudi Arabia and the international campaign against it. Joining the program: Sunjeev Bery , Middle East and North Africa advocacy director for Amnesty International . Maya Foa , director of the death penalty team at the human rights group Reprieve. Delphine Lourtau , executive director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that would have made changes to the $22 billion federal program that distributes free and reduced-priced meals in schools is officially dead, according to bill sponsor Pat Roberts, Republican U.S. senator from Kansas. The school lunch, breakfast, and summer meal programs will continue to operate under the policies set in 2010 under the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act.

A month has passed since Donald Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States. In these past few weeks, many Democrats and even some Republicans are wondering how this happened. Author Thomas Frank visited the University of Missouri a couple of days after the election and offered a few explanations. Frank believes that there is no one complete reason as to why Trump won the nomination, but he believes that Trump understood how many Americans felt going into the election. “In the end, it comes down to message and Trump really caught the mood of the country. There’s no doubt about that. People can feel the American way of life receding and that middle class dream they know is outside of their reach now. Trump caught that mood. By the way, another man who caught that mood was Obama,” Frank said. Frank said the fact that Trump was more or less the “change” candidate and Hillary Clinton was more of a “status quo” candidate worked in Trump’s favor. “[Hillary Clinton’s] last

As the winter moves in, several species of ducks are making their way into and through Missouri, en-route to their overwintering grounds. While this time of year is a boon to duck-hunters, recent research suggests ducks moving through might soon be an ominous sight for farmers. On an overcast Sunday afternoon, I found a group of mallards – known as a raft – dabbling in a pond at Columbia’s Forum Nature Area. The ducks were foraging for food, alternating between plunging their heads under the water, and being on alert, keeping an eye out for predators, or public radio reporters. Being on city property, the mallards didn’t have to worry about potential hunters. But it was a group of hunters, along with researchers at the University of Missouri, who recently discovered how these ducks’ eating habits could impact agriculture in the state. Kevin Bradley, a state extension weed scientist and a associate professor in the division of plant sciences at the University of Missouri, is something

Webber Elected Chair of Missouri Democratic Party On the Trail: Webber Aims to Lead Missouri Democrats Out of Political Oblivion University of Missouri Hires Search Team For Chancellor Missouri House Leader Plans Push for Ride-hail Regulations

On last week's Thinking out Loud, KBIA's Trevor Harris went to Macon, Missouri. He visited with a group of Actors Equity union members there about the challenges and joys of making professional theater in small town Missouri.

As another harvest season wraps up, Midwest farmers are once again facing low commodity prices amid enormous supplies. And when they recover from the long days bringing in the grain, they will eventually sit down with their books and try to figure out how best to farm again next year.

The clock starts ticking the day you’re elected into the Missouri legislature. If you’re lucky, you get eight years. Then term limits kick in and it’s time to find a new job. KBIA’s Hannah Haynes spoke to some of those term-limited legislators and found a bipartisan agreement: term limits have a downside.

President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that he’ll nominate U.S. Supreme Court justices that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that ended many abortion restrictions in the U.S. If he succeeds, some states might have laws like that in the Republic of Ireland - which has the most restrictive abortion laws of any industrialized democracy. Under the Eighth Amendment to Ireland's constitution, abortion is illegal in the heavily Catholic country in all cases except when the life of the woman is at risk. Both the woman or the doctor performing the abortion can face up to 14 years in prison if convicted. But polls show the constitutional amendment underpinning the ban has lost popular support, raising pressure on Ireland's government to hold a referendum on the issue. On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the effort to repeal Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion.

Beth Snyder turned her hobby of printmaking into a career when she started 1canoe2, a print and illustration studio. Her passion for creating prints began when her husband, then-fiancé, bought her a press for about $700 on eBay, for Christmas in 2007. She had wanted to print her wedding invitations using a traditional method.